The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture which proposes a penalty of $1,588,988 against Advanced Tel, Inc. (ATI) for apparent failures to make contributions to a number of federal regulatory programs over several years. ATI is a California-based non-dominant interexchange carrier that has provided interstate, international, and intrastate long distance telecommunications services as a switchless reseller in 25 states since 2002. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) began investigating ATI in 2008 after receiving a notification from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) which alleged that ATI had failed to comply with the FCC’s USF contribution rules. The investigation led the Bureau to ultimately determine that, over a span of several years, ATI failed to make required payments to the Universal Service Fund (USF), Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, and Local Number Portability (LNP) administration, and failed to pay required federal regulatory fees. ATI attempted to make payments toward its outstanding debts (nearly $1.5 million at one point) in order to negotiate a consent decree with the Bureau, but was unable to successfully follow through with this course of action. ATI must pay the full amount of its proposed forfeiture or seek a reduction within 30 calendar days.
